Re: [piecepack] Killer App?

[David Martin-Boyle <dboyle@...>]

> Hi All,
> 
> Greg Aleknevicus gave the piecepack a nod over at the Games
> Journal last week (http://www.thegamesjournal.com).  He raises
> some interesting points, among them his belief that the success
> (presumably proliferation?) of the piecepack will depend on the
> development of a "killer app" for the system.  That is, he asserts
> that it needs a single game compelling enough for games to
> purchase a piecepack just so they can play that one game.
> 
> I am curious about others' thoughts on this matter.  Personally,
> I wonder if there even could be one such game.  It seems like
> that "killer app" might be a different game for each person.
> 
> What do you think?
> 
> Game On,
> James

I disagreed with the whole "killer app" argument on two fronts.

First, you would have to go about advertising the thing completely
differently if you wanted to promote a "killer app" type of game.  Instead
of a piecepack set, which by the way can be used to play the hot new "Attack
of the Clones" game (you know some evil person out there is working on this
already), you would have to advertise the "attack of the clones game", and
throw in the other rules and piecepack concept as extras, or just ditch the
other games altogether.  You'd have to go one way or the other, or risk
confusing the message.

Second, I don't see why the piecepack can't be successful given the current
formula.  All you need is an attractive piecepack set and enough good (not
necessarily great) rules covering a wide variety of genres, mechanics and
age/skill levels.  Couple that with the ability to get new and updated rule
sets from piecepack.org, and this group, and I think it's pretty appealing.

Two problems right now:  We don't have the depth of rule sets we need, and
even given the PR piecepack has received, not enough people have heard about
it.